Intermediate support for elongate safety line or rail

ABSTRACT

A support for an elongate element comprises a body portion adapted to restrain a supported elongate element against lateral movement. The body portion has a plurality of partial shells extending therefrom, each partial shell having a cross section substantially conforming to a part of the profile of the elongate element to be supported. Adjacent partial shells extend in opposing lateral directions relative to the longitudinal axis of the support. The support may be a split cylinder having a helical groove extending longitudinally of the support, the width of the groove 16 being at least equal to the diameter of the elongate element to be supported.

The present invention relates to height safety equipment and, inparticular, to an intermediate support bracket for an elongate safetyline, such as a wire rope or cable, a solid rod or a rail element. Mostespecially, the invention relates to an intermediate support bracketwhich is capable of being fitted retrospectively to an existinginstallation without interruption of the running surface of the safetyline, and to a bracket which can be used during installation of atemporary height safety system.

The invention also has applicability in load transfer systems in whichloads are suspended from an overhead guide such as a cable, rod or trackwhich requires intermediate supports.

In a permanent installation, the positioning of intermediate brackets tosupport the elongate safety element can be planned in advance. Usually,bracket spacing will be determined such that long, unsupported spans areavoided. However, it is sometimes the case that a meticulously plannedpermanent installation requires modification after assembly, for exampleto compensate for unforeseen wind buffeting in a localised vortex.Temporary installations present a different problem in that therequirements for intermediate supports may not become apparent until theterminal anchors have been fixed.

In the circumstances described above, there is a need to provideretrospective intermediate supports in order to ensure that the elongatesafety line is held against lateral movement out of its operating plane,to guarantee safe operation.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide anintermediate support for an elongate element such as a personnel safetyline or rail, or a load transfer guide element, which is capable of bothretrospective fitting and removal without needing to break the elementfor the fitting or removal thereof.

The invention is an elongate element support comprising a body portionadapted to restrain a supported elongate element against lateralmovement, said body portion having a plurality of partial shellsextending therefrom, each partial shell having a cross-sectionsubstantially conforming to a part of the profile of the elongateelement to be supported, characterised in that adjacent partial shellsextend in opposing lateral directions relative to the longitudinal axisof the support.

In its simplest form, the support may comprise only two partial shells.

In a preferred embodiment of this two-shell variant, the shells areseparated by an amount at least equal to the diameter or maximumcross-sectional dimension of the element to be supported. This enablesthe support to be offered to the elongate element in an orientation atright angles to its working orientation, then twisted through 90°, sothat the opposing partial shells engage the elongate element andrestrain it against lateral movement. A bracket arm extending from thesupport can be used to attach the support to a fixed structure in itsworking orientation.

In another variant, there are three partial shells in total, the centralpartial shell extending in the opposite lateral sense to the end partialshells. The three-shell variant may be a split cylinder having a helicalgroove extending longitudinally of the support. The width of the groovewill be at least equal to the diameter of the elongate element to besupported.

Embodiments of the invention having more than two partial shells arebest suited to elongate elements with a circular or near-circularcross-section. Embodiments of the invention having more than threepartial shells are only of practical utility if the elongate element hasa degree of inherent lateral flexibility. Persons skilled in the artwill appreciate that too much flexibility in the elongate element willprobably render it unsuitable for height safety applications. It isthought that, for the majority of applications, two- and threeshellembodiments of the invention will be used.

The invention will now be described by way of example only withreference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a support according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the support shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the support shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 showing thedevice installed on an elongate safety cable.

Referring now to FIG. 1, this view shows a support 10 for an elongatesafety element such as a multi-strand metal cable (not shown). Thesupport comprises a body member 11 having three partial shells 12, 13,14 extending therefrom. In the orientation of the device as shown withreference to the plane of the drawing, the centre partial shell 13extends from the top of the support, out of the plane of the page andreturns towards the plane of the page at the bottom of the device. Bycontrast, the two end partial shells 12, 14 extend from the top of thesupport, behind the plane of the page and return towards the plane ofthe page at the bottom of the device.

When viewed end-on (FIG. 2), the support appears to be cylindrical, witha bore 15 dimensioned to receive the elongate element to be supported.

The partial shells 12, 13, 14 are separated from each other by alongitudinal groove 16 which executes a helical path from one end of thesupport to the other. The width of the groove 16 is selected to be atleast equal to the diameter of the elongate element to be supported,otherwise it will not be possible to fit the support to the element byrelative lateral movement.

FIG. 3 shows a side view of a support 10 installed on an elongateelement in the form of a multi-strand metal safety cable 50. Alsovisible in this view is the associated fixing bracket 20 designed tofasten the support 10 to part of a fixed structure 60. The bracket 20can be designed in various configurations to suit particularcircumstances or situations, and the precise geometry of the bracketdoes not form part of the present invention.

Although the invention has been particularly described above withreference to a specific embodiment, it will be understood by personsskilled in the art that these are merely illustrative and thatvariations are possible without departing from the scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An elongate element support comprising a bodyportion adapted to restrain a supported elongate element against lateralmovement, said body portion being a split cylinder having a helicalgroove extending longitudinally of the body portion, said body portionhaving three partial shells extending therefrom, each partial shellhaving a cross-section substantially conforming to a part of the profileof the elongate element to be supported, and wherein adjacent partialshells extend in opposed circumferential directions about a longitudinalaxis of the body portion, the width of the groove being at least equalto the diameter of the elongate element to be supported.
 2. The elongateelement support according to claim 1 wherein said partial shells extendlinearly along a common linear axis.
 3. The elongate element supportaccording to claim 1 wherein a supported elongate element is restrainedagainst lateral movement by attaching a supported elongate element viasaid elongate element support to a fixed structure spaced from asupported elongate element.